Do your toddlers use an iPad or prefer non-screen activities?

[Catsbumface1]

Does your toddler have a iPad or something non screen related.

My toddler hasn’t even seen an iPad, really see no need or benefit at her age whatsoever. I’m sure if I got her one she would sit like a little zombie and watch 100 episodes of Bluey or something similar in a row, but it wouldn’t do anything positive for her! She’s 2, she plays with toys, draws, builds things, plays.

My son is nearly 4. He occasionally (and by that i mean maybe 20 mins once or twice a month) plays reading games, draws or does colour by numbers on MY ipad, at home. When we go on holiday I download some of his shows for him to watch on the plane or in the room while we are getting ready to go out for the evening. This is the only time he has used a tablet. He does not (and will not for a long time) have his own nor does he have any unsupervised access to mine. Edit to add - he does have a yoto player which he uses to listen to stories.

lol at my toddler hasn’t even seen an iPad.

I am pretty anti screen time but I do use it sometimes if DD wakes very early. I am not up to educational activities at 530 am!

DS is 4.5 and never used an iPad. I have let him play some games on cbeebies website on my laptop a couple of times. Honestly he prefers riding his bike or going out. I would not buy an iPad for a child tbh and where we are (France) school are staunchly anti screens for anything before teenage years. Even tv they are regularly encouraging parents to reduce and they send us reports about research around developmental delays and behavioral issues for children who have a lot of screen time. I have a friend whose child was a huge tantrum-er and she went cold turkey on screens (YouTube) and it was transformative. Her son was about 2 at the time

Why? Do you have a toddler? Do they use screens?

Hmm mine probably would love TV all day if we let her! We have an hour in the late afternoon, after her siblings have got out of school and we've been to the park. While I cook etc.

Usually we play with Duplo, playdoh, she's a big fan of building Duplo houses for her toy animals, painting, baking, reading, hide and seek. Or we go in the garden, to the play cafe, the greengrocers, on the bus etc.

My DS is 5 and probably wouldn’t even know what an iPad is.

We focus heavily on doing stuff together rather than shoving him in front of a screen.

It can take a lot of parental effort to do that all the time but it’s definitely worth it.

We also talk a lot with him rather than having him isolated in front of a screen. I reckon he’s asked more questions in 5 years than most people do in a lifetime!

No screen at all til they were 7 or 8. We live in a mountainous part of Europe. Outdoors lifestyle. Now they are 17, 18, they can find their own balance .

I don’t think any toddler should use an iPad regalarly. Mine has used one a handful of times on a flight. But she does watch a limited amount of tv at home, shes nearly 2. We choose slower pace shows and watch with her most of the time. We never have the tv on in the background

Mine has a kid's tablet that is only allowed at the airport or car journeys 2 hours+.
To be honest, he gets it so little, he doesn't really get the appeal and so refuses to sit and watch it those times it would be much easier for us.

Nope. Never had one.
I don’t have one myself and DH has but it’s for work and doesn’t have many functions on it as it’s pretty restricted. He rarely brings it home.

MIL has one but she knows never to let the kids near it.

We don't have an ipad or TV. DD goes to morning preschool so she does activities there, and usually a class with me in the afternoon like football or swimming. She likes to be active and socialising with other children.

I do have a toddler and he hasn't seen a tablet

I have 3 children, my youngest are 3 and almost 1. We don’t own an iPad or tablet.

I am not anti screen - we have Disney plus/cbeebies on in the background sometimes but my DC will be playing, building, colouring mainly. I am not a perfect parent by ANY stretch of the imagination but I want them to be able to do long car journeys, sit through meals etc without needing a screen and so far they all can.

You do realise OP, that the only people who will respond to this thread are people proud of the fact that their children don't even know what an iPad is?
Not really a fair test, more a mutual back-patting exercise

What nexr?
Who feeds their toddler crisps and Coke? You'll ger plenty of responses to that one too.

We all need to feel superior in some way.

Mine definitely not allowed an iPad as toddlers. We had one for travel (flights, long train journeys only). Not for normal use around the house. They could watch tv if we were home and not doing something outside, but no small screens. My teen has a phone, but neither have an iPad and the youngest is 8. I’m sure they would prefer to sit in front of screens if given the choice, but in our house, they don’t get that choice. My 8 year old loves metal detecting and Lego. 🤷🏻‍♀️

How is this even a question?

My son, now aged 6, has never used a tablet or phone. He does watch some TV most days but very rarely cartoons as I find they turn him into a zombie. For long journeys he listens to his yoto and when he was younger I used to bring lots of activity things like reusable sticker books. You ask in your title if he prefers non-screen activities - I'd imagine he'd love to watch stuff on screens whenever he wanted, they are very addictive, but he's a child so it's not his choice. I hear young kids on the bus nagging their parents for their phone to watch, and have seen even babies being given their own screen. My son never asks as it's just not part of our life in that way.